California Lieutenant Gov. Eleni Kounalakis insisted the ongoing anti-ICE riots happening in Los Angeles on Sunday were a direct result of President Donald Trump’s actions.

Riots broke out in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday as immigration officials carried out raids to remove individuals illegally residing in the city. On Saturday, Trump deployed the National Guard to quell the violence, though California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused the president of simply wanting a “spectacle.”

Kounalakis, a Democrat, echoed Newsom’s sentiment on “CNN Newsroom” by suggesting the demonstrations were peaceful and manageable before Trump was involved.

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“What started yesterday was about 400 protesters in two separate locations. 400 altogether, and local law enforcement was absolutely capable of managing those kinds of protests,” Kounalakis said. “So bringing in the National Guard, threatening now to bring in the Marines, this is a crisis that is being ginned up and generated by Donald Trump for more of his political theater. It‘s deeply concerning that he is attempting to rile people up in this way.” 

Kounalakis added that the “biggest concern” was the ongoing raids conducted by the Trump administration in major cities like Los Angeles. She claimed people who are only being “profiled” as undocumented immigrants were “being swept up in them.”

“It is not what I think most people thought when the president said that he was going to go after violent criminals, going into kitchens and rounding people up and asking for their papers, detaining them. That’s really the precursor to it all.”

She continued, “But even as people are voicing their disagreement with that, calling in the National Guard in the way that he did was not necessary. Absolutely overkill and seems to now be escalating the problem because of Donald Trump‘s actions.”

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Police officers stand amid tear gas during a protest against federal immigration sweeps in downtown Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 8, 2025. REUTERS/Daniel Cole (REUTERS/Daniel Cole)

Kounalakis also revealed a lawsuit will likely be filed against the Trump administration for the deployment.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the president sending in the National Guard in an X post on Monday, saying, “Gavin Newsom did nothing as violent riots erupted in Los Angeles for days.” She went on to say that the governor “was too weak to protect the city.”

The riots entered their third day in California on Sunday, forcing officials to shut down the 101 Freeway.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said 500 Marines are on a “prepared to deploy” status and 2,000 California Army National Guard soldiers have been placed under federal command and control. There are currently 300 members of the California Army National Guard’s combat team deployed in several locations.

LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration’s border czar warned that immigration enforcement will continue “every day” in Los Angeles, hinting that even elected officials could face arrest if they interfere with agents on the ground.

Tom Homan, appointed by President Donald Trump, appeared undeterred by the volatile protests against federal agents in Los Angeles who were carrying out immigration raids. Enforcement would be a daily occurrence, he said in a late-Saturday interview with NBC News.

“I’m telling you what, we’re going to keep enforcing law every day in L.A.,” Homan said. “Every day in L.A., we’re going to enforce immigration law. I don’t care if they like it or not.”

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Parts of Los Angeles County erupted in wide-scale protests on Saturday after residents learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids were happening in the area. Demonstrations descended into chaos, with videos showing protesters surrounding federal law enforcement on the ground and in vehicles. At least one person was hit by a car they were trying to stop from moving.

While many protests around the city remained peaceful, some escalated into clashes where authorities deployed tear gas and officers fired what appeared to be less-lethal ammunition at demonstrators.

The Los Angeles Police Department arrested 11 people Saturday night for failure to disperse, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the situation.

Trump made good on his threat to deploy the National Guard against protesters, as Guardsmen arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday morning. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned it would escalate tensions.

Homan has previously threatened arrest for anyone who obstructs immigration enforcement. When asked whether that would include Newsom or Bass, Homan did not rule it out.

“I’ll say it about anybody,” Homan said. “You cross that line, it’s a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It’s a felony to impede law enforcement doing their job.”

He did not accuse any politician of impeding enforcement, and when asked about Bass specifically, he said that he doesn’t believe “she’s crossed the line yet.” A spokesperson for Bass did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ongoing enforcement concerns

Protests are expected to continue in Los Angeles on Sunday, as many residents take issue with the way ICE has been operating on the ground.

Homan told NBC News that ICE was “prioritizing” threats to public safety. He cited a raid on a business in downtown Los Angeles’ Fashion District, saying agents were executing warrants as part of a criminal investigation.

But Homan also implied that the government does not differentiate between violent criminals and those who commit civil immigration violations when enforcing deportation laws.

“I’ve said a thousand times that aperture will open,” Homan said. “And I said, if you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table.”

Immigration raids have targeted workplaces and Home Depots, where many day laborers often gather to find manual labor jobs. Homan told NBC News that ICE agents at Home Depots were looking for “final orders,” which is a final order of removal.

Individuals have also been taken into ICE custody while attending immigration interviews, causing fear among those going through the legal immigration process.

Homan denied some of the allegations that ICE has been operating at schools, hospitals and churches, calling it misinformation. He criticized the overt hostility toward ICE agents, saying they’re unfairly compared to terrorists and Nazis.

Homan had harsh words for Newsom, calling the governor an “embarrassment for the state” and denouncing California’s “Sanctuary State” law. Sanctuary laws prevent local authorities from being compelled to participate in federal immigration enforcement.

“If he cared about public safety in the state of California, he would not have a sanctuary for criminals, where criminals get released to the street in this state every day because of his policy,” Homan said of Newsom.

In reality, California state prisons regularly cooperate with ICE, as the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is required by law to identify individuals subject to deportation within 90 days. However, if ICE fails pick up the individual prior to release, the department does not hold anyone past their release date.

A spokesperson for Newsom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“The rhetoric keeps rising and rising and rising — someone’s gonna get hurt,” Homan said. “If this violence isn’t tamped down, someone’s gonna die, and that’s just that’s just a cold fact of life.”

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials are investigating after a death row inmate was killed at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano on Friday.

Convicted murderer Mario Renteria, 36, allegedly started beating fellow inmate, Julian Mendez, 46, at about 10:30 a.m. Friday, prompting prison staff to respond. 

Officers ordered them to get down, but the men failed to comply, according to a CDCR news release obtained by Fox News Digital.

Chemical agents initially stopped the attack, but more than 30 additional inmates rushed Renteria and began striking him.

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Orders to stop were ignored, and staff used multiple blast grenades to quell the violence, according to CDCR.

Mendez suffered multiple wounds, and life-saving measures were immediately taken. He was taken to the prison’s triage and treatment area, where a doctor pronounced him dead at 11:05 a.m.

Prisoner Mario Renteria was allegedly the first to attack the death row inmate. (CDCR)

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Officials said an improvised weapon was found at the scene, though the type of weapon was unclear.

Renteria remains in restricted housing pending investigation, according to CDCR. 

Officials limited population movement to facilitate the investigation by the prison’s Investigative Services Unit and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office. 

The Office of the Inspector General was notified, and the Kern County Coroner will determine Mendez’s official cause of death.

The Kern Valley State Prison attack involved more than 30 inmates in Delano, Calif., on Friday. (Kern Valley State Prison)

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Mendez was received from Riverside County on Dec. 2, 2004, according to CDCR. He received a condemned sentence in 2002 for the first-degree murder of two teenagers.

CDCR said Renteria was received from Riverside County on April 27, 2022, and was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder (a third-strike offense) and arson.

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Kern Valley State Prison opened in 2005 and houses over 3,100 minimum- and high-security-custody inmates.